Crimson Butterfly
by Sarryn
Summary: They said it couldn't be done. They said it shouldn't be done. I have done it! A Folken, Yukari AND Dilandau love triangle. How? You'll have to read it to find out.


They said it couldn't be done. They said it shouldn't be done, but I have done it. A lovely love triangle between Folken, Yukari and Dilandau…okay it's more like a love water molecule in shape. You know two hydrogen atoms attached to one oxygen atom…anyways…yeah. This is sort of like Fushigi Yuugi, as in both friends are transported together, but to different sides of the battlefield. Other than that it's different. So how will I make this seem plausible, a) I won't, b) I'll spend long hours working on each scene, c) you'll just have to read to find out. Please review and don't expect an explanation for the title. I haven't figured that one out yet. 

Crimson Butterfly

"Hitomi," Yukari Uchida cried out as she hobbled towards her friend. The brown haired girl turned to face her, tears of outrage staining her flushed cheeks. Yukari didn't know why she had to reach her friend, but a stomach wrenching anxiety urged her to grab Hitomi before she…left. Where would she go? The way that strange boy and 'earth dragon' had appeared? No, it was too absurd, yet she had to reach Hitomi. 

A column of refulgence shot down and consumed the startled girl and expectant boy. Yukari raised an arm against the light and plunged in, heedless to the possible danger. She stretched out her hand and grabbed frantically for her friend. She didn't understand what was happening, but she had to save Hitomi. 

"Hitomi," she screamed and grabbed hold of the other girl's track uniform. Slowly but surely she felt Hitomi being pulled upwards and out of her grasp. Crying she leapt up, ignoring the burning pain shooting up from her sprained ankle, and wrapped her arms about her friend's waist. With a numbing realization she felt her own feet leave the ground. This wasn't happening, couldn't be happening. 

"Hitomi. Yukari." Amano, Amano was calling out their names. She pried her eyes open and nearly fainted as she found herself more than several feet above the ground and swiftly rising. The shock was enough to loosen her grip, but she tightened her arms about her friend and clung on desperately. 

"Hurry. My hand," Hitomi cried out to the boy below. Yukari watched as their hands stretched out and nearly touched, fingers brushing for the briefest of moments. Her heart pounded, rescue was so close. Hitomi's pendent, still around Amano's wrist, slowly lifted up, as if drawn towards its mistress's hand. The girl grabbed the pendant desperately and for a moment a thin chain of gold connected the two. Then the necklace slipped from his wrist and their last link to Earth was severed. 

Yukari heard Amano scream their names as they shot up through the brilliance. She buried her head against her friend and cried out her fear. 

Suddenly her grip slipped and she felt her body falling away from her friend. Hitomi grabbed wildly for her and their hands clasped each other for a moment. She made a last ditch attempt to hold on, gripping her friend's gym bag. Then the strap broke and she was ripped away, spinning alone in the light. 

****

Yukari opened her sorrel-brown eyes to find a dozen gleaming swords pointed at her head. She blanched and held very still, eyes darting about wildly. Where was she? What was going on? Through her own confusion and terror, she noticed the panicked fear on the faces of the men surrounding her. It took her a few moments to realize that they were yelling at her and a few more to realize that she could understand them as well. 

"Get up, demon wench."

"Demon? What are you talking about?"

"You can't fool us, demon. We saw you come from that unholy light."

"Light?" she murmured in confusion. "Oh god…Hitomi."

"Silence." Her eyes widened in pain and her breath whooshed out as a boot toe rammed into her stomach. "Don't try to invoke your demonic gods in our presence." Somebody seized her hair and yanked her to her feet. She cried out and struggled until the edge of a sword pressed against her throat. Then she became remarkably still. 

"We are going to take you to our commander so you'd better not trying any of your demonic tricks. Understand?" She nodded carefully, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. A dark terror surged haphazardly through her body and made her shake. "Good. Bind her hands and gag her. Can't have this witch reciting curses or anything."

Abrasive hands seized her arms and twisted them painfully behind her back, securing her wrists with a length of leather. Then she found herself being forced to open her mouth into which they placed a large ball of rough cloth, too big to choke on but small enough to fit snugly inside. They wrapped another measure of cloth around her face and over her mouth, effectively silencing her. She gagged at the rancid flavor of the fabric. It reminded her of old cheese and the girl's locker room. She didn't even want to begin to contemplate where it had been and what it had been used for. 

One of the soldiers noticed her obvious discomfort and sneered. "Be glad we didn't truss you up like a deer carcass." She glared poisonously at him and tried to spit out a curse around her gag. Now that she was bound and helpless the men strutted about as if they had never evidenced fear. Men, she thought in disgust. She hoped Hitomi was finding a more hospitable reception wherever she was.

****

When the horse finally stopped, Yukari heaved a happy, or at least relieved, sigh. After limping pathetically along for several minutes, all the while slowing everyone else down, they had decided to toss her over one of their horses and continue. She had discovered the joys of riding a horse on her stomach, tied and gagged. She felt as if she had been kicked repeatedly in the ribs. 

One of the soldiers hauled her off and set her carelessly on her feet. She winced as she landed hard on her bad ankle. Half-hopping and half-limping she unwillingly followed her captors. Not that she had much choice considering that they had a firm hold on both her arms.

They led her to a group of men clustered before something that resembled a TV with really bad reception. She couldn't help smiling around the gag. So the men of this strange world weren't as different as she thought. Even better perhaps she was still on Earth somewhere.

"I don't see why we can't just burn down the whole kingdom right now." The speaker was a pale, angry young man, boy really, with silver-white hair and the strangest eyes she had ever seen. She couldn't explain it, but he frightened her on an instinctive level, like the fear she had of a deadly predator, a stalking leopard or tiger. Quietly she stood besides the soldiers that had brought her and hoped to not attract any attention from the boy. 

"We have to recover the dragon and we can't do that if everything is destroyed. We need to wait till after the prince arrives and the coronation ceremony begins tomorrow," the TV replied. She gazed at the contraption in surprise. Apparently it was like some sort of visual and audio phone like in the movies, how fascinating.

"After the ceremony? What reason could there be for waiting so damn long?"

"Only the king can revive the dragon."

"Why the hell would we want that? Isn't the dragon going to destroy Zaibach's future if it isn't destroyed? So why not destroy it before it can be awakened?" the boy raged. Yukari tried to surreptitiously back up; the strong hands on her arms prevented any such movement.

"Emperor Dornkirk wishes to stud it to find out why it posses a threat to our perfect future. And since only the…king of Fanelia can summon the dragon we can't capture it until the prince returns, is crowned king and is forced to summon the dragon."

"I still think it's a waste of time."

"Are you questioning the Emperor's orders?"

"Of course not. We'll do as ordered."

"Lord Dilandau." Yukari jumped in fright as one of the soldiers called out to the seething boy. 

"What is it?" he demanded, whirling around to confront the cowering men. She shivered at the murderous rage in his eyes. She so didn't want to be there at that moment. 

"We've captured a demon, sir." She issued a muffled cry of outrage as one of the soldiers shoved her forward. She stumbled and ended up sprawled at his feet. The boy's lip curled up in apparent disgust and he turned his attention to her. 

"Demon? She's nothing but a little girl." He frowned, his disgust turning to a sort of twisted curiosity, as he looked her over. "A very dressed little girl."

"She came from this unholy light sir, and as soon as she appeared all the animals went crazy. She was bathed in dark flames and began to summon her demonic allies with horrible words, sir."

"Enough." Everyone turned to the talking screen. Yukari craned her neck in order to see. 

"What now, Folken?"

"Bring this girl to the Vione, Dilandau."

"Why? It's obvious these fools are lying. She probably just stumbled into them and scared the crap outta them." Wisely the men remained silent. 

"If she came from light, as they claim, then it would be prudent to investigate it. Emperor Dornkirk would be very displeased if any more unknown elements entered hid desired future."

The boy looked ready to protest some more, but then he smiled in a most unnerving manner and inclined his head slightly in haughty acquiescence.

"I'll bring her up then, Folken." She tried to shake her head 'no' and say that it wasn't necessary, but the leather bindings prevented her. She really didn't want to go anywhere with him.

****

A petulant Yukari found herself shoved to her knees before a tall man dressed in a long black cloak and possessing the oddest colored hair she had ever seen: a pale aqua. He looked her over critically, face devoid of any emotion. She cringed and tried to make herself as small and incongruous as possible. After a few moments of scrutinizing her, he strode around, the edge of his cloak brushing her fettered arm. She tried to follow him with her eyes, but with a few unhurried strides he was out of sight. She didn't like that. Being tied and helpless was bad enough, but not being able to see what her captors were doing was far worse. Through her frightened mind a dizzying parade of images of what they might be doing waltzed. 

A small shriek, thankfully muffled by the gag, escaped her mouth as something touched her bound hands. She squirmed and tried, in vain, to escape. 

"You found it necessary to tie her up?" a faintly mocking voice demanded immediately behind her. Someone, the silver-haired boy she was sure, laughed harshly.

"She came this way."

"I see." With the sound of ripping tendons the leather about her aching wrists fell away. Unbalanced, she toppled forward and scraped her chin painfully against the metal floor. Not one to waste such a chance, she scrambled away, fumbling with the gag. Unfortunately her arms and hands were so cramped from their abuse that she couldn't do anything of worth. She was still struggling with the leather about her head when the man in the cloak came towards her. She scooted back until she came up against a wall. 

"She's like a frightened mouse," the boy sneered. She glared at him and fended the man off with her hands. 

"I recommend that you hold your tongue, Dilandau," the man said quietly as he knelt before the flailing girl. The boy rolled his eyes, but remained silent, mocking but silent. 

She flinched as he raised a hand to her face and tried to bat it away. Ignoring her weak attempts to shove him away, the man carefully eased the length of leather down and pulled the wadded up cloth from her mouth. His whiskey-brown eyes searched her face for a moment and then he stood. He turned and walked towards the boy whose arms were crossed in a completely insolent manner. They talked in hushed voices for a few moments, the boy gesticulating wildly. Finally the boy bit out a harsh curse and stalked away. 

The man turned back to her and seemed to sigh with annoyance, although she couldn't be sure for his expression remained the same. Using the wall for support she struggled to her feet, wincing as she added weight to her sprained ankle. 

"It seems that the task of escorting you to your quarters for the moment is up to me," the man told her softly. 

****

So how is it? Good, bad, needs improvement? Please tell me in one of those wonderful things called reviews. I just want to know if I'm worthy. *falls to knees crying and then runs into a wall*


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